Narcotics

Naperville police are searching for a man who stole drugs from a Kmart pharmacy in Naperville. Police say a man produced a note at the store's pharmacy counter around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, demanding Fentanyl and Oxycodone before fleeing the store on foot with the drugs. Read more at TribLocal.

Schaumburg Police Department narcotics investigators will undergo regular drug testing as part of their new contract, after a drug scandal that rocked the department. The agreement calls for drug testing up to four times a year for officers who work in narcotics enforcement, Village Manager Brian Townsend said. The new provision, he said, comes in response to felony charges filed earlier this year against three former officers accused of stealing from drug dealers and...

Our so-called friends to the south are sticking it to us again! Miguel de la Madrid, president of Mexico, refuses to cooperate with us in eliminating narcotic drug traffic. Obviously it is because he and his colleagues are profiting by this disgusting operation. We could cure this problem overnight if our politicians would shut off the overgenerous cash handout the taxpayers of the United States give every year to Mexico, Colombia and the likes.

By A. Ananthalakshmi and Siddesh Mayenkar SINGAPORE/MUMBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Indian gold smugglers are adopting the methods of drug couriers to sidestep a government crackdown on imports of the precious metal, stashing gold in imported vehicles and even using mules who swallow nuggets to try to get them past airport security. Stung by rules imposed this year to cut a high trade deficit and a record duty on imports, dealers and individual...

A federal lawsuit in which an African-American woman had accused some of her former supervisors in a Cook County police narcotics unit of racist activity was dismissed Friday at the request of defense lawyers, who complained that her attorneys had repeatedly failed to appear in court. But lawyers for Yorli Huff, a former MEG investigator who claims her career was damaged by racist attitudes, said the dismissal of their third amended complaint was a mixup and that they plan to ask...

PHOENIX, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A dangerous flesh-eating narcotic known as "Krokodil," or crocodile, in Russia where it emerged more than a decade ago may have made its first appearance in the United States, medical experts in Arizona said. Toxicologists at the Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center in Phoenix say they have been consulted on a "handful of cases" of patients suspected of abusing Krokodil, so-called for the scaly and green...

A man was found guilty Friday in the first Cook County drug case that fell under a 1982 state law allowing property to be seized if purchased with drug money. John Arman, 31, of 1831 N. Kimball Ave., was found guilty of narcotics racketeering. Assistant State's Attorneys Thomas King and Thomas X. Smith said they will now try to seize Arman's property, including Arman's two North Side buildings, his $15,000 bank account, proceeds from another building he recently sold and property he...

By Peter Nickeas and Liam Ford and Tribune reporters | September 7, 2013

The discovery of a man bound and beaten in the West Lawn neighborhood led police to 170 pounds of cocaine and 50 pounds of marijuana in his home blocks away, according to police. The 33-year-old man, Margarito Raygoza, also known as Jose Corona, was found by Chicago Lawn District police near 65th Street and Springfield Avenue about 7:50 a.m. Thursday. Neighbors called 911 to report the man on the ground. Raygoza told police he had been walking near 64th...

A convicted narcotics dealer, already sentenced to 30 years in prison for a 1985 drug dealing conviction, pleaded guilty Monday to fleeing Du Page County before that sentencing took place. Bernard Condon, of an unincorporated area near Lombard, who has been called a major area cocaine dealer, fled Du Page after he was convicted in the 1985 case but while he was out on bond before his sentencing. He was arrested in Florida in 1988 after authorities got a tip. Judge John...

David Terrell, a former first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears, released a statement today saying he's confident he will beat felony drug charges filed against him last week. "Mr. Terrell adamantly denies any participation whatsoever in the alleged criminal acts," reads a statement released by his attorney, Mark P. Sutter. "Mr. Terrell has faith that the criminal justice system will ultimately vindicate him. " Terrell is accused of hitting two police officers as he...

Services for Capt. John Ryle, 55, former commander of the Chicago Police Department's narcotics division, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday in the chapel at 6901 W. Belmont Ave. He died Monday in Resurrection Hospital. In recent months, Capt. Ryle had been administrative assistant to Police Supt. LeRoy Martin. Capt. Ryle was a Chicago police officer from 1957 until he retired 19 days ago. During his 21-year career, he served five years as director of the narcotics division, two years as leader of...

A fifth doctor charged in connection with a wide-ranging investigation of a West Side hospital prescribed powerful narcotics without a license, a criminal complaint made public Thursday alleged. Dr. Kenneth Nave, 50, who practiced at Sacred Heart Hospital and has offices on the Far South Side, was arrested Wednesday night in Miami after returning from a foreign trip, according to Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago. He was released on bond and was...

Bernie F. Brown, 73, a member of the Chicago Police Department from 1946 to 1979, was a legendary narcotics detective, noted for his unorthodox method and efforts to educate the public. A resident of the Big Oaks neighborhood and formerly of the Austin area, he died Friday in the Ballard Nursing Home in Des Plaines. "He was a dedicated, warm person who was in love with his work," said Monsignor Ignatius McDermott, who worked with him in teaching educators about substance...

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - A grand jury has indicted a suspected Mexican narcotics kingpin who is a powerful figure in the violent Sinaloa drug cartel, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. Damaso Lopez Nunez, 47, was indicted in November by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, but the indictment was sealed until Thursday, prosecutors said. Lopez Nunez faces charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine...

A Chicago man on probation for a narcotics violation choked to death when he tried to swallow a plastic packet of marijuana, apparently to conceal it from officers who were about to arrest him, police said Tuesday. Oak Lawn police said they believe the man, Milton Hahn, 27, assumed that he would be sent back to prison if he were caught with the drug, so he attempted to swallow the evidence. But the bag became lodged in his throat, causing him to choke. Police...

Fallout from the recent arrest of three Schaumburg police officers continued Monday as Cook County prosecutors dropped felony charges against three defendants linked to the trio's police work. The state's attorney's office said it had reviewed 19 cases involving the officers, and 15 will be dropped. The remaining four are expected to move forward, officials said. "All of the cases involve felony drug-related charges," said Tandra Simonton,...

A rookie narcotics officer talked his way into a reputed drug house and arrested a suspected crack dealer after making a purchase, police said. The rookie volunteered for the job after a more experienced officer failed to get into the house at 1817 Jackson St., police said. "He was in uniform too," Assistant Chief Gerald Pedrin said. "He just tucked his pants into his boots, put on a jacket and baseball cap, and made a $20 crack buy. This was one dumb crook." Pedrin...

After getting out of prison in April 2006, "Shakey" Shawn Betts moved to St. Charles, but kept his trigger finger on the West Side of Chicago, police said. Betts, a leader of the "Body Snatchers" faction of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang, returned to Chicago to regain control of the corners where he and his gang wreaked havoc in the 1990s, leading to bloodshed in the streets in 2006, police said. On Wednesday, police arrested Betts and 54 other members of his gang, including several top...